Two Hundred and Thirty

It could have been the strobe lights that gave off the impression that the room was spinning, or it could have had something to do with the alcohol I’d consumed.

After John left me stood in the middle of the yard, I hated him even more than I had at any other time. His arrogance made me want to punch a brick wall, but what really made me hate him, was the fact that he still had the ability to send chills down my spine.

But I wasn’t left much time to dwell on it, as Pat bounded back over with Jared and some of their other friends, one of which I recognised from hurling John into the back of my cab that night; Kennedy. They were nice and had brilliant senses of humour; oddly, I didn’t feel an instant need to dislike them like I did with the majority of people I encountered. Jared insisted that I come inside with them all, so I did. He introduced me to Kat; his girlfriend. She was sweet, a little overwhelming but sweet none the less. She and the guys poured me drinks and quizzed me about every aspect of my life.

“So what are your plans now that your course has finished?” Kat asked, pouring me another drink.
Jared was stood with his arm clung around her waist, waiting for my response.

“Well, I’m moving back to England soon” I nodded accepting the drink from her.

“How soon?” Jared whined a little- more out of politeness than anything.

It’s always made me wonder why people do that, including myself. I guess it is just polite to act like you’re going to miss someone, even though you’re probably not.

“26 days tomorrow” I didn’t even have to think about it.

“I saw a beautiful friendship blossoming between us” He sighed with a smirk.

I laughed and took another sip of my drink.

After that, I don’t really remember much. Not even the name of the scruffy haired, bearded guy that kept giving me drink after drink after drink. Although I do recall that I enjoyed being with him, we talked about The Rolling Stones and Star Wars until Kat dragged me into the lounge to dance.

I actually danced. Something I thought I would never ever do to that sort of music, I actually enjoyed myself. We spun around so much that my eyes couldn’t focus and we laughed so much that my ribs began to ache. Maybe I did need a substantial amount of alcohol to do it, but I was having a good time.

That is until the strobe lights shut off, sending the entire room into complete darkness. Suddenly all my senses woke up, at least more alert than what they were a second ago. People began to push, the music stopped abruptly and I think girls were screaming. Guys were shouting for sure though, the room turned into one massive jumble of confusion and sweat covered bodies. And then, the urgency. The once slight pushes against me now turned into full on shoves as people began to frantically scramble in every direction. They must have known something I didn’t, so I tried to go with the crowd, but there was no direction. I couldn’t help but curse myself; if I was sober then maybe I wouldn’t be as dazed.

I blinked a few times, hoping that my eyes would adjust to the light, but they didn’t. I stumbled over limbs and stepped on my own toes in the rush of people trying to clamber out of the room. My clothes were being pulled and my skin broken in the mad chaos. I found myself drifting with them, being bounced off bodies in every direction, I don’t think I could have tried to battle my own way if I tried. The yelling got louder and I felt like I was drowning. My face was flushed with heat and arms kept pushing their way over my head- I was in a stampede.

I felt another tug on my shirt, but this time more insistent than any of the others. I was slipping below the crowd- it was getting hotter and my knees were shaking. The tugging on my shirt stopped and I felt what seemed to be two ice cold hands lock underneath my arms. I just let them take me, drag me over people, under people, I wouldn’t have known for sure- I squeezed my eyes shut tight, only now becoming aware of the pain I was in and how loud all of the shouting actually was.

This person then dropped me to the floor and grabbed my wrist, I kept my eyes closed, mainly because it hurt when I tried to open them and everything was too jumbled in my head for me to make sense of any situation.

I recognised the Arizona night breeze on my cheeks and the shouting that was so clear to me was now muffled as this person lead me quickly down the street- no, we were running. Why were we running?
I flashed open my eyes, but the dull light from the street lights didn’t help my already blurred vision. He was dressed like every other guy was at that party and he wouldn’t stop running, so I couldn’t see his face.

“Why are we r-running?!” I cringed at the slur in my words.

He didn’t reply, he just sharply jolted my arm and dragged me across the road and round another corner.

We carried on going and in retrospect, if I was completely sober I would have put up a fight, but right now, I didn’t have the sense to. All I could think about was how glad I was that I didn’t let Lucy persuade me to wear heels instead of my boots.

That’s when I suddenly dug my heels into the ground, forcing my leader to stop dead in shock.

“Lucy! Where’s Lucy?!”

My leader turned around, his image being clear to me under the orange glow of the streetlight we’d stopped by.

My leader was also my damn neighbour.

“It’s alright- I saw her- leave- with Kyle” John stuttered breathlessly.

I shook my wrist free from the clutch of his hand.

“What- What’s happen- Why-“

“The police- they raided” He stuffed his hands into his pockets as if me shaking him off wasn’t an issue.

I stared at him blankly with my mouth gaped open a little.

“I just grabbed you-“ He trailed his eyes down my arms and legs “Shit!”

“What?!” His sudden change in tone startled me.

“You’re bleeding!” He rushed closer, taking my arm and pulling it to him.

A gash almost as long as my entire forearm dribbled deep red blood like a leaky water pipe, the colour darkening by the second.

I watched John’s face as he slipped a napkin from his back pocket and tried to dab at it. But the red just seeped through the fabric instantly- and that’s when I saw the little black digits scrawled on the napkin in a line, and another line and another in the other direction.

“You’ve lost those- phone n-numbers” I smiled, finding it highly amusing.

John’s face shot to me, his pupils like pinpricks and a worried curl in his lip.

“What?” He shook his head in disbelief “Is this not hurting you- how much did you drink- did you not have a jacket-“

I suddenly felt the cold chill on my bare arms.

“Shit, Kat took my- jacket and left it on the chair- we need to go get it-“ I turned and went to walk the way we came, completely forgetting that John still had my bloody arm in his grasp.

He didn’t let go “We can’t go back, we’ll get arrested-“

I laughed.

“It’s not funny- we will! Or at least cautioned- why do you think people were running?”

He reminded me of my father. Caring, but in the least caring way he could manage.

“No” I shook my head, which I soon regretted “I- my keys and phone are in the pocket- we need- I need to go back”

“We can’t-“ My blood started to trickle onto his fingers.

“You don’t need- to. I can go back myself-“ I pushed my shoulders back like a little child wanting respect.

He laughed heavily “Rae, do you seriously think that I’m going to let you go anywhere on your own in the state that you’re in?” He looked down at his hand that was now covered in blood but still didn’t move it “I have a couch”

No, no way. There was no chance in hell that I would spend the night in John O’Callaghan’s apartment. No way.

…..

I was conscious, but most definitely half asleep as I slouched over the counter with my forehead pressed against the worktop and my arm outstretched across it. John worked away bandaging and cleaning up my arm which he said looked a lot worse than what it was.

There was no doubt in my mind that this wouldn’t have been happening if I hadn’t drank so much. I wouldn’t let him do this and I certainly wouldn’t be sat in his apartment.

“You should drink some of that water” He said after clearing his throat.

I found it somewhat calming as I could feel the cold and the fabric grazing my burning wound.

“I’m not thirsty” I groaned.

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“Can I ask you something?” He said in a hushed tone.

I groaned in response, something again, I would not have done sober.

“Why don’t you show people your art work? It seems a waste to hide a talent like yours away”

Part of me knew that he was only asking me this in hope that I wouldn’t remember that he had in the morning and that I’d give an honest answer because of the intoxication.

I lifted my head up off the worktop and squinted my eyes as I looked up at him.

“I could say the same thing about you” I smirked cockily. Yet another thing to add to the list of things I wouldn’t do sober.

I may as well have sucked all the atmosphere from around us.

His hands coiled away from my arm, dropping the materials in his fingers and moving his hands to his lap. He stared at me with such power that I could have sworn he was trying to shoot lazers from his eyes. His lips formed a perfectly straight line and his jaw clenched severely.

I’d hit a nerve.

He stared for far too long until he finally broke the torture and finished bandaging up my arm, not uttering a single word. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face.

“I think you need to sleep- this is going to hurt in the morning” He said completely emotionless.

I tried to stand up, but it was like I’d become a thousand times more intoxicated since sitting down, my head could have rolled off my shoulders.

As I stumbled to my feet, John’s arm wrapped around my waist to steady me, but my neck and knees were like jelly. I just wanted to sleep. I could have slept standing right there.

He tried to guide me across the room, but my feet were not co-operating in the slightest.

John huffed and sighed obviously at what he was about to do and reached down to gather my legs in his other arm. I let him lift me, which seemed effortless but was probably a lot harder as I couldn’t even stand up straight. I say I let him, I wasn’t even aware of anything that was going on until a few seconds after they’d actually happened.

He carried me through a door and set me down gently on the bed before quickly untying my laces and slipping my boots off my feet.

I don’t know when, or how, but he’d pulled back the covers so that all he had to do was drape them over me. I let my eyelids wilt shut slowly. The room fell deadly silent as if he wasn’t there, and I’m pretty sure I would have thought he was gone. But then, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, he delicately brushed my hair out of my eyes with his fingers. I listened intently as his boots creaked over the floor boards, then the gentle click of the door and his muffled footsteps in the other room.